Remote controlled operating arrangement for typewriters



July 1, 1969 H. TWARDZIK 3,452,852

REMOTE CONTROLLED OPERATING ARRANGEMENT FOR TYPEWRITERS Filed May 25, 1967 sheet of 2 July 1, 1969 H. TWARDZIK 3,452,852

REMOTE CONTROLLED OPERATING ARRANGEMENT FOR TYPEWRITERS Filed May 25, 1967 Sheet 3 of 2 United States Patent 3,452,852 REMOTE CONTROLLED OPERATING ARRANGE- MENT FOR TYPEWRITERS Horst Twardzik, Munich, Germany, assignor to Kienzle Apparate GmbH, Viilingen irn Schwarzwald, Germany Filed May 25, 1967, Ser. No. 641,193 Claims priority, applicatigg 3G lelrmany, May 27, 1966,

Int. Cl. B 113 5/30 U.S. Cl. 197-19 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Background of the invention It is known to provide electromagnets for operating an electric typewriter for the purpose of automatically typing information received from a remote source.

Standard electric typewriters have a driven power roll which actuates the type actions when a coupling cam is placed in contact with the power roll by operation of a key.

Type actions are known in which the key lever does not directly act on the type action, but acts on a trip member which is arranged and constructed in such a manner that the type action is not automatically again actuated when the key lever is still held in a depressed position when the type action returns to its initial position after typing a character by a type bar.

A type action including a trip member performing this function is disclosed in the U.S. Patent 2,796,966, issued June 25, 1957.

Devices are known for controlling an electric typewriter from a remote source of information. According to one construction of the prior art, electromagnets are provided which directly act on the type bars. This has the disadvantage that the keyboard cannot be locked while the machine types information received from a remote source. If, during the automatic typing of the machine, a person touches a key, a respective type action is actuated, and a wrong number is written, or two simultaneously actuated type bars jam so that wrong information is typed. Another disadvantage of this construction is the difliculty in mounting the electromagnets under the type bar, where there is very little space available in standard machines, so that the machine must be modified and the type bars placed in a higher position to provide room for the electromagnets.

In another construction of the prior art, electromagnets act directly on the cam lever of the type action. This arrangement has the disadvantage that, if the electromagnet is energized too long, a repeat actuation is effected, and instead of typing one digit or character once, the respective digit or character is typed several times. The same malfunction takes place when the magnet armature jams or sticks. To overcome this disadvantage, the prior art construction provides additional means for returning the armatures of the magnets which further complicates the device, resulting in an increased space requirement, and higher manufacturing costs.

Summary of the invention It is one object of the invention to overcome the disadvantages of prior art constructions, and to provide a simple operating arrangement permitting operation of a typewriter from a remote source of information, without being influenced by a manual operation of the typewriter.

Another object of the invention is to provide an electromagnetic operating device which can be built into an existent standard typewriter without requiring a modification or change of appearance of the same.

Another object of the invention is to provide an electromagnetic operating arrangement for a typewriter which, even upon improper operation of the electromagnets, will not cause a repeat actuation of a type action of the typewriter.

With these objects in view, the present invention is applied to a typewriter having a power roll and type actions including a member operable for causing a single actuation of the type action by the power roll.

In accordance with the invention, electromagnetic means are provided for operating this member so that actuation of the electromagnetic means causes a single actuation of the type action.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the typewriter has type actions disclosed in the U.S. Patent 2,796,- 966 which include a trip member intermediate the key lever and the coupling cam of the type action.

The electromagnetic means include a plurality of electromagnets mounted on a support above the key levers and having armatures respectively cooperating with the trip members of the type actions. Each trip member has an abutment portion engaged by a part of the armature of the respective electromagnet, and also engaged by a lug on the respective key lever so that the type actions are either operated by the electromagnets, or by the key levers to perform a single operation.

This arrangement permits a locking of the keyboard during automatic operation of the typewriter by the electromagnetic operating arrangement. Since the electromagnets are positioned in the space above the keys, they are located under the detachable cover of the standard machine casing.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

Brief description of the drawing FIG. 1 is a fragmentary schematic side view illustrating a type action provided with an electromagnetic operating arrangement according to the invention;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are section views illustrating two embodiments of electromagnetic means for operating the type actions; and

FIG. 4- is a fragmentary front view, partially in section, illustrating a preferred construction of an armature part by which the type action is actuated.

Description of the preferred embodiment The type action illustrated in FIG. 1 is the manually controlled type action disclosed in the U.S. Patent 2,796, 966, provided with electromagnetic means 11 to 14 by which the type action can be actuated from a remote source of information with which the coil 12 of the electromagnetic means is connected by conventional cables, not shown.

Only one type action, one electromagnet and one key lever 8 are shown, and it will be understood that a row of type actions, electromagnets, and key levers is provided in the typewriter.

Each type bar 1 is movable between the inoperative position shown in solid lines, and the position shown in broken lines in which an imprint is made on a paper on the platen 6. The type bars are pivotally mounted, and connected by wire links 2 to actuating levers 3 which are mounted on stationary pivot means 32 for angular movement, and are connected by springs 36 to a frame part of the typewriter.

A control lever 33 is mounted on a pivot 3c of actuating lever 3 and has an end portion 33b cooperating with a stop 37. A coupling cam 3a is mounted for turning movement on a pivot 33a on control lever 33, and is connected by a spring 34 to an ear 34' of actuating lever 3. Coupling cam 3a has a serrated curved face cooperating with the peripheral surface of a driven power roll 5, and an abut ment 3d urged by spring 34 against a lug 7a on one end of a trip lever 7 which is mounted for angular movement on a pivot 28 of actuating lever 3, pivot 28 passing through a slot 35 in trip lever 7. A spring 30 connects an ear 31 on actuating lever 3 with an car 31' on trip lever 7.

Trip lever 7 has an abutment 10 engaged by a lug or engaging portion 9 of a key lever '8 in the illustrated initial position of rest. Key lever 8 is moved by pressure on key 4 to a depressed position, not shown, in which lug 9 displaces trip lever 7 to cause actuation of the type action by power roll 5. In the position of rest illustrated in FIG. 1, the surface of coupling cam 3a is slightly spaced from the surface of power roll 5.

Abutment 10 is also engaged by a part 14 of the armature 13 of an electromagnetic operating means, which also includes a coil 12 which, when energized, attracts armature 13 and moves armature part 14 to a position displacing trip member 7 for causing actuation of the type action. When trip lever 7 is angularly displaced about pivot 28 in counterclockwise direction by armature part 14, or by the depressed key lever 8, lug 7a acting on abutment 3d, turns coupling cam 3a in clockwise direction about pivot 33a on control lever 33 so that the serrated surface of coupling cam 3a engages the surface of the rotating power roll and is rotated in clockwise direction. Pivot 33a is pulled by spring 34 into engagement with an edge of actuating lever 3 so that the same is turned by coupling cam 3a about pivot 32 whereby type bar 1 is turned out of the illustrated position of rest.

At the beginning of the movement, control lever 33 and actuating lever 3 tend to rotate as a unit about pivot means 32. When end portion 33b of control lever 33 engages stop 21, further rotation of control lever 33 about pivot means 32 with actuating lever is blocked. This terminates the first stage of the operating cycle during which coupling cam 3a directly acts on actuating lever 3 through pivot 33a.

Thereafter, it the rise of coupling cam 3a continues to urge pivot 33a away from power roll 5, the point of engagement between end portion 33b of control lever 33 and stop 37 becomes a new fulcrum for control lever 33.

As soon as control lever 33 begins to rotate about this point of stop 37, it exerts a torque on actuating lever 3 through pivot 30 so as to rotate actuating lever 3 about its pivot 32. When the center of rotation of control lever 33 shifts from pivot means 32 to the fulcrum formed by stop 37, the edge of actuating lever 3 which had been in direct contact with pivot 33a becomes separated therefrom since actuating lever 3 will move at a greater angular velocity when turning about the fulcrum on stop 37.

The amount of increase in angular velocity is a function of the inverse ratio of the radial distance between pivot means 32 and pivot 30, to the radial distance between pivot 32 and pivot 33a.

The structure and design of the type action is such that after a complete printing stroke of type bar 1 toward the platen 6, spring 34 has brought coupling cam 311 back to its position of rest shown in FIG. 1. Portion 3d of coupling cam 3a is then in engagement with the lug 7a of trip lever 7, but if key lever 8 is still held in the depressed position, abutment 10 will not return to its initial position engaging the point of lug 9, and abutment 10 Will be located forwardly of shoulder 9a of lug 9 abutting the same, whereupon pivot 28 moves in slot 35 expanding spring 30 due to the fact that spring 36 acting on actuating lever 3 which carries pivot 28, is stronger than spring 30.

When abutment 10 is located forwardly of shoulder 9a of lug 9, the key lever cannot displace trip lever 7 to a position moving coupling cam 3a into engagement with the power roll 5, and consequently a repeat actuation of the type action cannot take place even if the key lever is continuously depressed. Upon release of key lever 9, however, the restoring spring 30 pulls trip lever 7 upwardly to the left until it is again positioned for actuation by lug 9 so that subsequent depression of key 4 will cause another single actuation of the type action.

When key lever 8 is left in its normal position of rest, and the electromagnetic means 11 to 14 is energized, armature part 14 acts on abutment 10 in the same manner as lug 9 in the above-described manual operation, but since key lever 8 remains in the initial position of rest, trip lever 7 returns with the type action to the position illustrated in FIG. 1 with abutment 10 abutting lug 9 and armature part 14. In the event that armature 13 with part 14 is jammed, no repeat actuation takes place due to the movement of pivot 28 in slot 35 of trip lever 7.

As shown in FIG. 1, the front face of armature part 14 is located in the same plane as shoulder 9a of lug 9, so that abutment 10 is not blocked by the end of armature part 14 if the same is jammed in the operative position, but slides to a position located forwardly of the same so that no repeat actuation takes place.

The electromagnets 12, 13 are arranged in a row and supported by a support bar 11 which is secured to the frame of the typewriter. Support bar 11 and the row of electromagnets are located above type levers 8 in the space between the same and the type bars 1, so that the standard removable cover of the typewriter casing, not shown, covers the electromagnets.

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate two embodiments of the electromagnets, each including a coil 12, a frame 16 having a slot in which an armature 13 is tiltably mounted and provided with an adjusting screw 15 for adjusting the position of part 14 which is guided in openings 17 and 18 of frame 1 6, and of a bracket 19 secured to the frame. The openings 17 and 18 guide the straight part 14 in a rectilinear movement.

A further guidance of part 14 is obtained by a slot 141: shown in FIG. 4 which receives key lever 8, as is apparent from FIG. 1. In this manner, part 14 is also guided in lateral direction, and the free ends of the legs of part 14 reliably engage abutment 10.

In the modified embodiment of FIG. 3, part 14 is guided in guide openings 17 and 18 provided in guide portions of end plates 20 and 20a of coil 12.

Adjusting screw 15 permits an accurate adjustment of the initial position of part 14 in relation to trip lever 7 within the tolerance range of the typewriter. It is also possible to construct armature part 14 of two threadedly connected pieces so that the length of armature part 14 can be adjusted.

The movement of the tiltable armature 13 is limited by a screw 21, or by stop 21a.

The slotted armature part 14 is guided on key lever 8 without obstructing the operation of the key lever when the electromagnetic operating means are not used. Due to the direct action of electromagnets 12 and armature parts 14 on the trip levers 9, it is possible to lock keys 4 during control of the typewriter by the electromagnetic means 12, 13, 14 and accidental operation of the keys 4, which may cause jamming of type bars, is prevented.

during the automatic operation of the machine from a remote source of information.

The construction assures that a single impulse energizing coil 12 effects a single operation of the type action and causes a single imprint by the type of type bar 7 so that even jamming of the armature 13 with armature part 14, no wrong characters or digits are typed due to undesired repeat actuation of the type action, while on the other hand the automatic typing is not disturbed.

The position of the support bar 11 and of the electromagnets 12, 13 above the key levers uses free space available in standard typewriters under the detachable cover of the casing. Consequently, the electromagnets can be easily serviced, adjusted and if necessary, repaired.

It will be unnderstood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of electromagnetic operating arrangements for typewriters differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in electromagnetic operating means directly acting on the trip lever of a type action so that jamming of the armature does not cause repeat actuation of the type action, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omit-ting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptation should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A typewriter comprising a frame; a power roll; a row of type actions, each including a coupling member having an operative position cooperating with said power roll, and a single trip member directly engaging said coupling member and being displaceable for moving the same into engagement with said power roll, each trip member having an abutment portion, said abutment portions forming a row; a row of key levers having keys, each key lever having an engaging portion spaced from said key for engaging said abutment portion of the respective trip member, said key levers being located above said trip members, respectively; a support attached to said frame and extending across said key levers; and a row of electromagnets mounted on said support rearward of said keys and above said key levers and including movable armatures forming a row and having free end portions respectively projecting downwardly between adjacent key levers and registering with said abutment portions of said trip members and being movable upon energization of the respective electromagnet for engaging said abutment portion of the respective trip member so as to actuate the respective type action so that each abutment portion cooperates with a key lever during manual operation of the respective key and cooperates with an armature during electrically controlled power operation of said typewriter, said row of electromagnets being positioned so as not to interfere with manual operation of said keys and enabling operation of said type actions in response to electrical signals without requiring any modification of said key levers of said type action.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said support is a straight bar detachably attached at the ends to said frame so that by attachment of said bar with said electromagnets, said typewriter is transformed from a manual typewriter into a power operated typewriter with remote control.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said support bar is disposed above said key levers; wherein said electromagnets form a single row on said support bar; and wherein said armatures project downward through and across said row of key levers toward said trip members, respectively.

4. A typewriter comprising a frame; a power roll; a row of type actions, each including a coupling member having an operative position cooperating with said power roll, and a single trip member directly engaging said coupling member and being displaceable for moving the same into engagement with said power roll, each trip member having an abutment portion, said abutment portions forming a row; a row of keys levers, each having an engaging portion for engaging said abutment portion of the respective trip member, said key levers being located above said trip members, respectively; a support attached to said frame and extending across said key levers; and a row of electromagnets mounted on said support and including movable armatures forming a row, each armature including a pair of leg portions separated by a slot in which the respective key lever is located for guiding the free ends of said leg portions into engagement with said abutment portion of said trip member, said free ends respectively registering with said abutment portions of said trip members and being movable upon energization of the respective electromagnet for engaging said abutment portion of the respective trip member so as to actuate the respective type action so that each abutment portion cooperates with a key lever during manual operation and cooperates with an armature during electrically controlled power operation of said typewriter whereby the actuating force required of said electromagnets is small.

5. A typewriter comprising a frame; a power roll; a row of type actions, each including a coupling member having an operative position cooperating with said power roll, and a single trip member directly engaging said coupling member and being displaceable for moving the same into engagement with said power roll, each trip member having an abutment portion, said abutment portions forming a row; a row of key levers, each having an engaging portion for engaging said abutment portion of the respective trip member, said key levers being located above said trip members, respectively; a support attached to said frame and extending across said key levers; a row of electromagnets mounted on said support and including movable armatures forming a row and having free ends respectively registering with said abutment portions of said trip members and being movable upon energization of the respective electromagnet for engaging said abutment portion of the respective trip member so as to actuate the respective type action so that each abutment portion cooperates with a key lever during manual operation and cooperates with an armature during electrically controlled power operation of said typewriter whereby the actuating force required of said electromagnets is small, each abutment portion having a face; each engaging portion having a shoulder, said face and said shoulder being located in a common plane extending in the direction of movement of the respective engaging portion and armature; and each type action including means for returning the same after actuation to a position in which said trip member with said abutment portion is in a displaced position in which said abutment portion passes said shoulder when said key lever is held depressed, and passes said face when said armature is jammed so that the type action is not repeatedly actuated.

6. For use with a typewriter having a power roll, at least one type action including a trip member for causing a single actuation of said type action by said power roll, and a key lever having a normal position and a depressed position cooperating with said trip member for causing actuation of said type action by said power roll, in combination. a detachable apparatus comprising electromag- 7 netic means having an armature part movable to an advanced position for operating said trip member, said trip member having an abutment portion, said key lever having a lug engaging said abutment portion in said depressed position for actuating the type action, said lug having a shoulder and said armature portion having a guide face located in a plane transverse to said key lever and passing through said shoulder; said type action including means for returning said type action to a position in which said trip member with said abutment portion is in a displaced position in which it is not engaged by said lug in said depressed position of said key lever and by said armature portion in said advanced position, said abutment portion abutting said shoulder and said guide face in said displace position of said trip member so that said type action is not again actuated when said key lever is held in said depressed position and when said armature part is jammed in said advanced position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,687,199 '8/1954 Goodale et a1 19719 2,735,532 2/1956 Meyer 197-l9 2,796,966 6/1957 Toeppen 197-17 2,807,345 9/1957 Nimlitch 197-17 3,197,618 7/1965 Stanley et a1 197-20 XR 3,249,199 5/1966 Jones 197-19 3,340,985 9/1967 Sinila 19719 EDGAR S. BURR, Primary Examiner. 

